The temple in the capital of Zayin.
It looked almost like a fortress, gleaming under the rays of the sun. A clear blue sky stretched overhead, and the people of the capital had gathered all around.
Not long ago, this had been a place of war. But now, tranquility had returned.
Amid all the bustle, the announcement was made that the Holy Knight Order would be formally elevated to a proper knight order, and at the same time, the Sacred Knight Order would be dissolved.
With Aura Zayin as the Holy Maiden, a new order of things was being built.
At the ceremony, those who had earned recognition for their contributions stood lined up in formation.
But Crate, deputy commander of the Holy Knight Order, was glancing sideways with a distinctly displeased expression. Following his gaze, there was Albano, standing in line with a smug grin on his face.
Albano's subordinates were lined up too—this time, the behind-the-scenes contributions had been recognized, and that was why they were here.
Crate, who had no idea about any of this, was scowling bitterly.
I was wearing armor that only looked impressive on the outside, and I leaned over to quietly caution him.
"Crate, we're in the middle of the ceremony."
Still looking sour, Crate faced forward and grumbled to me in a low voice.
"Laiel, why did you invite Albano? That guy has no ambition and absolutely zero loyalty."
Crate was serious and hardworking—no question, he was excellent. But when it came to managing an entire knight order, his overly serious nature inevitably became a flaw.
That was exactly why I thought Albano was needed to complement Crate.
"I was the one who invited him. Besides, the behind-the-scenes work would be hard for you, wouldn't it? Investigations, rumors, and all sorts of other important tasks—that's what I need him for."
"That's exactly why! Entrusting that sort of thing to someone like him..."
As the ceremony continued to progress, Crate remained in a foul mood the entire time.
As for me, I was busy working in the new order of Zayin. After all, there were hardly any civil officials. The military officers were almost entirely a collection of amateurs.
Moreover, since the Holy Knights had been dissolved, we had to form new units.
(…There's not enough time. It's impossible. If I handle everything here myself, it will take years.)
Around my neck hung the blue Jewel, which held the Skills and records of the Successive Heads.
I was glad I'd heeded the advice of the Successive Heads, but recently, there had been things on my mind.
(Still, things have been quiet lately.)
They used to be annoyingly noisy, but recently, they wouldn't respond unless I spoke to them first.
I was curious, but I was too busy to ask them about it.
Besides, the operation was about to move to its next phase.
(Well, next up is Selva. Rolfis's movements have been sluggish, but it should be fine.)
By winning swiftly in Zayin, Rolfis's side was about to shift their policy to maintaining the status quo.
(Sigh, so I have to make the move again.)
After the ceremony ended, I went to my assigned office to sort through documents.
Helping me were Novem, Miranda, Monica, and Clara. At times like this, Aria with Shannon, and Eva or May, weren't useful.
The desk was piled high with documents, and as I processed them, I could hear the voice of the Fourth Generation.
'Hmm, this one is important, so shall we split the amount? Oh wait, that side won't work. This isn't a calculation error; they did it intentionally. The person who prepared this is incompetent. Note their name for demotion. The next document is… Ah, the priority is high, but it's impossible right now.'
The documents circling back to me were clearly not ones I should be looking at. Furthermore, since I was involved in a wide range of tasks, I had complete information on Zayin.
The reason I was given such work—it was because of a severe manpower shortage.
When the room door was knocked, temple officials once again brought a massive stack of documents into my room.
Suppressing a grimace as I looked at the documents, the officials spoke up.
"Ah, um… This is on the orders of High Priest Gastone. Since it will still take some time to recall the priests from the provinces…"
I bowed my head and pointed to a spot to place the documents. I had Clara take away the ones I had finished sorting and asked her to help with the work.
"Clara, please help me sort through these documents."
Clara rose from her chair. Seeing the new pile of documents placed there, even she looked genuinely tired.
She said one thing.
"If these were books, I wouldn't feel tired at all."
As she said that, she began sorting through the documents. The reason we were busy with this was because the priests who had opposed the High Priest at the temple were from an opposing faction.
I had considered taking a break, but the Fourth Generation had said one thing.
'Ah, these ones are useless. Sending them to the provinces would just be a nuisance. Exile them from the country.'
Because she had said that.
Thanks to that, High Priest Gastone had been working through the night, while I took shifts to rest. Monica was helping more than expected by sorting through the documents.
However, more kept coming, and we couldn't keep up.
Monica was tossing her golden twin-tails around.
"Why use paper documents! If this were digital data, efficiency would be so much better! I could manage a whole country by myself!"
I looked at Monica.
"Are you tired? You can go take a break now. Swap with Miranda."
Miranda was taking a nap on the sofa. As she said this to swap with Monica, Monica stood up and spread her arms wide.
"What kind of attitude is that! Pay me more attention! I worked hard, you know! I stayed up all night preparing outfits and armor, even improved the Porter... yet you treat me so dismissively! Being called a Saint of Love, and that Chicken's head is getting big, isn't it!"
I got irritated, stood up, and pointed at Monica.
"I'm not being called a Saint of Love because I like it! I told you to rest if you're tired, so what's your problem?!"
Monica.
"Damn it!! No matter what I do, that Chicken just won't see how amazing I am!! ...Fine, I'll go prepare tea. And some light snacks too."
Perhaps shouting had calmed her down, as Monica headed for the door to go prepare tea.
Just then, Clara, while sorting through documents,
"I'll have a sandwich."
Novem, who had been processing documents in her usual detached manner, looked up and said,
"Same for me. That would be easier to prepare."
Scowling at Novem's words, Monica turned her gaze toward me.
"...Sandwiches and drinks for three people. No, make it four."
Slowly rising from the sofa was Miranda, her hair tousled. She looked sleepy, and when she stretched, her shirt opened at the chest, revealing her bra.
I quickly averted my gaze, and the Fourth Generation spoke.
"Lael, your face is red. What are you getting flustered over something like this for?"
I was thinking how irritating she was being when the Fifth Generation relayed the Fourth Generation's state to me.
"...You know, your face is red too, you realize? If Mom were here, you'd get smacked."
"Don't rat me out!"
When I turned my attention back to the documents, Monica, who was about to leave the room, glared at me resentfully.
"I'm over here flaunting myself and you don't even react... Y-You damn Chicken!!"
She pretended to cry and left the room. But she properly closed the door behind her. She really was an earnest sort of person.
Once the room grew quiet, Miranda also stepped out to go wash her face. Without anyone saying a word, everyone resumed their work.
—The royal castle of Rolfis.
There, Romboldt had gathered his ministers for a conference.
"The other day, Zayin formally requested to form an alliance. That's good. But at the same time, they want us to proceed with that matter as well."
Several days had already passed since May delivered the letter.
A formal envoy had visited Rolfis to apologize and informed them that in the current situation, Aura was unable to act. Given the circumstances, Rolfis wasn't demanding that Aura come personally to apologize.
In the first place, Aura hadn't been particularly involved in Zayin's invasion of Rolfis. If anything, from Rolfis's perspective, she had been an ally.
The problem, however, was "that matter"—the proposal to jointly invade Selva.
One of the ministers spoke up.
"If we can't reclaim our territories from Zayin, then seizing them from Selva is essential for recovering our national strength. What is there to hesitate about? Besides, we should all be in agreement on that, shouldn't we?"
The knight commander as well.
"...A large number of mercenary companies have gathered in Rolfis as well. If there's no war going forward, they may start pillaging within the country. I support the invasion of Selva."
Romboldt, the prime minister, had also struck a deal with Gastone.
After reclaiming Zayin, they would jointly invade Selva and the territories would belong to Rolfis. In exchange for not returning lands that had originally been Rolfis's territory, it was agreed that Romboldt's side would provide soldiers.
However, even Romboldt hadn't expected them to win this decisively.
In truth, Romboldt also wanted to invade and recover their national strength. But they had also uncovered the fact that Selva had been pulling strings behind the scenes—
"Her Highness the Princess is refusing. She says the war is already over. Moreover, it seems she isn't even considering breaking off her engagement to Dario."
The dignitaries of the nation felt like clutching their heads in frustration. One of them slammed his fist down on the table.
"What is she thinking! After all that she's done, what does she mean by telling us to forgive?! Prime Minister, haven't you failed in your education of Her Highness?!"
The knight commander glared at the angry minister.
"I'll pretend I didn't hear what you just said. But there won't be a next time."
The minister, still agitated, slammed his fist on the table once more. Everyone felt the same way. After a while with no one speaking, Romboldt finally said—
"We won too much. And decisively at that. If this ends here, the damage will be minimal."
Lyle's victory had been so spectacular that Rolfis was caught off guard.
After all, they had expected the process to take months—or even years. No one had imagined it could be accomplished in such a short time.
Romboldt had also intended to direct the nation's frustration and resentment toward Selva, should any damage occur. But the war had ended with little more than a few skirmishes.
One of the ministers spoke.
"Don't be ridiculous! I know national sentiment matters. But do you have any idea what situation we're in right now! What we've been putting up with all this time… Some of our knights have even given up their swords to become adventurers and seek work abroad, while others have taken up plows instead."
Over twenty years ago—
Zayin had seized Rolfis's territory. Back when Fort Neinir was the front line.
But so much time had passed, and the princess had been born after that, so it was only natural that it felt like ancient history.
Romboldt let out a sigh.
"It's not that we're afraid to invade Selva. What we should really be terrified of is Zayin. How can we guarantee that Rolfis won't be seized next, once we're used as the vanguard in a Selva invasion? This is the man who stole Zayin with just a hundred soldiers. Could he not do the same to Rolfis now?"
Hearing that, the senior officials fell silent.
When they had seen him in the audience chamber, they hadn't thought much of it. According to Alette, he was an outstanding adventurer—from his posture, they had assumed he was merely a washed-up knight.
But upon investigation, the name of House Walt from the great nation of Banseim had come up.
He was indeed a vassal of Banseim, but his territory was larger than that of Rolfis. Was he really the son of House Walt, the strongest in Banseim?
They had wondered about that, but now it no longer mattered.
After all, defeating a vast army with a small force was impressive enough, but Lyle had stolen an entire nation with just a hundred men. That fact was what truly terrified Romboldt.
Then the Knight Commander spoke.
"However, it is also true that he agreed to the deal. He could use the unilateral cancellation of the contract as a reason to attack us. Zayin still has mercenary forces remaining."
The senior officials felt as though they were dancing in the palm of Lyle's hand. It was frightening whether he kept his word, and frightening whether he broke it.
The meeting came to an end without any conclusion being reached.
Rolfis Won't Make a Move
Face-down on my desk, I stared at the mountain of unfinished paperwork and the stagnant situation, and felt like crying.
Novem stroked my back gently.
"D-don't worry, Lyle. I'm sure they're just as confused over there. They'll get their preparations in order soon."
I raised my head and looked at the pile of documents, despair washing over me.
"...I promised to keep fighting until the next war is over. If I don't finish, this paperwork nightmare just keeps going, you know?"
At that, Miranda stood up and started staggering toward the door.
"Miranda?"
"I'm going to bring Aria and the others. We don't have enough manpower. If I just teach them a little, they could handle paperwork at least..."
This wasn't the usual composed Miranda. She looked like she was trying to drag Aria and the rest into this hell along with her.
I stopped Miranda.
"Remember the first day! We concluded it was a waste of time to teach Aria. How long do you think it would take to train even one person, even if someone worked with them full-time?"
Miranda turned around, looking like she was about to burst into tears.
"But! If the situation doesn't change, we'll never escape this work!"
We were backed into a corner. We were more desperate now than we ever had been on the battlefield.
Novem gazed at the mountain of paperwork as well.
"Monica has other tasks to handle too. We've assigned her work that we can't do ourselves. And both Aura and Selma are busy. Besides, Gastone is just as capable as we are, if not more."
We had called back the priests from our own faction and they were working, but it still wasn't enough.
I turned my attention to the documents on my desk.
It was Crate's handwriting.
The document contained a proposal for standardizing the Holy Knight Order's armor, with a design sketch attached.
The Fourth Generation's voice came through. It was a dry laugh.
"Ahahaha... Rejected. And let's modestly increase Lyairel's and Crate's training and duties as well. It seems they still have some room."
In my heart, I resolved to increase Crate's workload, but my thoughts drifted elsewhere.
(Why isn't Rolfis moving! At this rate, we'll never escape this hell!)